Broomfield House and Park: Your memories wanted!

The Broomfield House Trust and Enfield Museum Service have agreed to hold a joint exhibition, "Hidden Treasures: Revealing Broomfield House", at the Dugdale Centre in Enfield from 23 July 2018 until 6 January 2019.

The Broomfield House Trust will be using donations and a grant from the Enfield Society to fund the restoration and display of the Minerva panel of the Lanscroon Murals, which will be the centre piece of the display. We are awaiting formal permission from Enfield Counci,l who "own" the mural, and Historic England, who guard its listed status, before our chosen restorers, Arte Conservation, can move the sections to their studios in Faversham to begin their painstaking restoration.

We continue to seek donations to cover the costs of this whole exercise. Donations can easily made through BTMydonate on our websites on Facebook - "Broomfield House and the Lanscroon Murals" - and at www.broomfieldhouse.org.

Stacey Bagdi is the energetic organise of the exhibition and she is appealing for items and memories connected with the park and house - see the poster.

Being undoubtedly the most important artefacts from the park’s long history, I understand the curator is already considering how to best represent the handbill and witches bottles, key elements of the Palmers Scream, in the exhibition.

If it’s possible to obtain an early return of the scroll itself, currently undergoing testing at the British Museum of Curiosities, then hopefully that too – both sections - will form an integral part of this event.

(Readers not familiar with the witches’ bottles can watch a brief explanatory video, available on
www.palmersscream.uk
. Note that this will be one of the very few time since their discovery that the bottles will be available to be seen outside of their protective box.)

The Trust has now been given planning permission (Listed Building Consent) for sections of the Lanscroon murals which make up the figure of Minerva to be removed from storage and taken to the restoration studios in Kent.

We are continuing to work with Stacey Bagdi of the museum service in selecting items and information for the exhibition opening on 28 July. Stacey is keen to hear recollections, or receive items which could be loaned or gifted for use in the display.

Arte conservation have now collected the two large boxed sections of the Minerva panel and taken it to their studio in Faversham. There they will rejoin the two sections which were removed from Broomfield House for safe keeping after the 1984 fire. They will then repair surface damage and mount them on a display frame.

This restored sample of Gerard Lanscroon's 1726 mural will be the centrepiece of the joint Museum of Enfield/Broomfield House Trust exhibition "Hidden Treasures: Revealing Broomfield House and Park" opening in the Dugdale Centre on 28 July.

See also...

In 2019 we have been reporting about the introduction of new trains for Palmers Green and plans for new schools in the north west of the borough. 60 years ago PG was also celebrating new trains, and a new school was being built in Oakwood. And the Mayor at the time was someone whose name remains well known in Palmers Green.
All this and more event in Broomfield Park can be discovered in Southgate Newsreel No 1. Read more

Enfield Council has issued an important statement about the future of Broomfield House and stableyard. Read the statement plus comments from the Broomfield House Trust and Friends of Broomfield Park representatives who have been invoved in the discussions. Read more

This Saturday sees the launch of the long awaited exhibition about Broomfield House and the surrounding park, organised jointly by Enfield Museum and the Broomfield House Trust. The exhibition runs until 6th January 2019 at the Dugdale Centre. Read more